PROGRAM MANAGER, SUSTAINABLE FOREST FINANCE LEAD

Please note that the deadline is based on Korean Standard Time Zone (KST, UTC+9)

INTRODUCTION TO GGGI

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is a treaty-based international, inter-governmental organization dedicated to supporting and promoting strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in developing countries and emerging economies. To learn more please visit about GGGI web page. 

Forests sit at the center of the international environmental agenda and are increasingly recognized as critical to climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable development. In recent years, global commitments including the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests, the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), UNCCD COP16 and UNFCCC COP30 outcomes have reaffirmed the urgent need to halt deforestation and accelerate restoration by 2030.

The European Union (EU) has been a global leader on forests and sustainable value chains, including through the European Green Deal, the EU Forest Partnerships, the Global Gateway, the EU Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR), EU's Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan, and EU’s associated support for MBD-led forest finance efforts such as the World Bank's Transformative Carbon Asset Facility (TCAF), Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISFL), and GGGI’s EU Sustainable Finance Trust Fund.

In this context, GGGI is implementing the Financing for Forests programme, which aims to enhance forest finance ecosystems in Lao PDR, Mongolia, Guyana, and Colombia over five years by piloting and scaling innovative financing instruments and strengthening the enabling environment for sustainable forest investment, and which is expected to expand to 4 additional countries.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Sustainable Forest Finance Lead – Project Manager will lead the implementation of GGGI’s Financing for Forests (F4F) programme, providing technical leadership, strategic coordination, and operational oversight to ensure high-quality delivery across the pilot countries.

The role will serve as the central point of accountability for managing programme workplans and budgets, guiding the design and delivery of sustainable forest finance instruments (fiscal incentives, performance-based revenue mechanisms, credit enhancement and forest credit lines), coordinating donor and EU engagement, and ensuring strong partner-country ownership and institutional anchoring of results.

The role will also ensure coherent governance through the Programme Steering Committee (PSC) and Country Steering Committees (CSCs), while supporting knowledge generation, capacity building, and high-level engagement through the Forest Finance Fellowship and global/regional advocacy efforts embedded in the programme design.

The Sustainable Forest Finance Lead – Project Manager will report to the Director of Sustainable Finance, and respective Country Representative in target countries, and will supervise a multi-country technical and delivery team.

PURPOSE

This position provides technical and delivery leadership for GGGI’s F4F programme, ensuring the programme designs, pilots, and scales credible, investable forest finance solutions across target countries. The Sustainable Forest Finance Lead – Project Manager will be accountable for end-to-end programme delivery, while also serving as the programme’s technical lead on forest finance, including:

• Structuring and advancing forest finance and associated governance mechanisms that improve project bankability and scale private capital flows into sustainable forest management, conservation, restoration, and deforestation-free value chains;
• Providing technical oversight on forest finance and associated governance approaches including fiscal incentives, performance-based revenue mechanisms (e.g., PES, carbon, biodiversity-linked revenues), and commercial finance and de-risking instruments (e.g., forest credit lines, guarantees, blended finance);
• Translating national priorities, EU expectations, and market realities into investment-ready pipelines, institutional reforms, and scalable financing models;
• Ensuring high-quality planning, budgeting, implementation, and reporting, and supporting effective governance through the Programme Steering Committee (PSC) and Country Steering Committees (CSCs).

ENGAGEMENT

The role requires high-level engagement and partnership management across EU institutions, national governments, financial institutions, technical partners, and global platforms.

Key engagement responsibilities include:

• Serve as the primary technical and delivery focal point for programme coordination with EU counterparts, including support for engagement with relevant EU services and EU Delegations in pilot countries.
• Oversee strategic engagement with Ministries of Finance, Environment/Forestry, Planning, central banks, financial supervisors, and national guarantee funds to ensure ownership and institutional uptake.
• Lead effective governance arrangements through the Programme Steering Committee (PSC) and Coordinate and support for Country Steering Committees (CSCs).
• Lead strategic engagement with multilateral financial institutions, and oversee strategic engagement with local financial institutions (public and private), national development banks, and market actors to mobilize sustainable forest-sector lending.
• Represent GGGI in high-level events and dialogues on forest finance, climate finance, biodiversity finance, and sustainable value chains.
• Oversee and provide strategic leadership for programme visibility and communications, ensuring alignment with EU guidelines and coherent global messaging.
• Engage and coordinate a network of technical experts and consulting teams (international and national) across fiscal policy, sustainable finance, MRV, safeguards, and carbon/biodiversity methodologies.

DELIVERY

This position is accountable for delivering the programme’s results, ensuring quality implementation, and managing operational excellence across multiple countries and workstreams. Key delivery responsibilities include:

Operational delivery and quality assurance

• Manage programme execution across all outputs and activities, ensuring delivery against targets, milestones, budgets, and quality standards.
• Ensure strong sequencing and delivery management across the programme’s phases (inception, implementation, closure).
• Oversee contracting, technical quality assurance and management of technical experts and service providers to support delivery at scale.

Results delivery against programme targets

Ensure delivery contributes to programme-level results, including:

• Minimum of USD 250 million of sustainable finance mobilized for forest-sector investments;
• Minimum of 50,000 hectares under newly established or documented enhanced sustainable management, restoration, or protection influenced by supported mechanisms;
• Development of at least 4 tested forest finance interventions (at least 1 per country), and documentation of at least 2 standardized models for replication and scaling regionally/globally.

Knowledge, capacity building, and leadership development

• Lead the delivery of the capacity-development/knowledge exchange platform , including generation of case studies, comparative studies, and knowledge products.
• Lead design and oversee structured training delivery targeting Ministries, financial institutions, regulators, communities and developers, aligned with programme outputs.
• Lead the operationalization of the Forest Finance Fellowship for senior officials, supporting peer learning and institutional leadership for reform.

Programme expansion

• Lead the expansion and sustainability planning of the Financing for Forests programme, including the design of Phase II and the development of follow-on funding proposals; proactively engage the EU, partner-country governments, and consortium/implementation partners to mobilize additional resources and secure funding to extend the programme to four additional countries

REQUIREMENTS

QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master’s level or above) in Finance, Economics, Environmental Economics, Public Policy, Sustainable Development, Forestry, Natural Resource Management, or a related field.

Experience

• Minimum 10 years of relevant professional experience in sustainable finance, climate finance, nature finance, forest finance, and/or relevant investment-related advisory/programme delivery roles, with at least 2 years of international experience living and working outside of home country
• Proven experience leading complex, multi-stakeholder programmes involving government counterparts, donors, and financial institutions.
• Demonstrated technical experience in design, implementation, and/or capacity building related to three or more of the following forest finance areas:
• sustainable finance / blended finance / de-risking instruments,
• credit enhancement mechanisms and financial sector engagement,
• carbon markets / PES schemes / biodiversity crediting mechanisms,
• fiscal policy and public finance reforms linked to environmental outcomes,
• MRV systems and climate / biodiversity finance reporting.
• Demonstrated technical experience in implementation, and/or capacity building related to forest governance strategies and frameworks in similar developing country contexts.

Languages

• Full professional proficiency in English (written and spoken) is required.
• Working knowledge of French and/or Spanish is an advantage.

FUNCTIONAL

• Strong technical expertise in designing and scaling sustainable finance mechanisms, including risk mitigation and private capital mobilization.
• Ability to translate complex forest finance solutions into practical country-level implementation roadmaps.
• Excellent programme management skills, including planning, budgeting, delivery tracking, and reporting.
• Strong leadership and team management skills across multicultural and multi-country delivery structures.
• Proven ability to engage effectively with senior government officials, financial regulators, and institutional stakeholders.
• Strong analytical, drafting, and presentation skills, including production of high-quality knowledge products and technical frameworks.
• Demonstrated ability to work across institutional mandates and align ministries of finance, environment and planning toward shared investment objectives.
• Experience with safeguards, inclusive design, and gender-responsive approaches in finance and policy interventions.

CORPORATE

• Strong alignment with GGGI’s mission, vision, and values.
• Promotes an organizational culture of integrity, trust, transparency, accountability, and partnership.
• Demonstrates strong stewardship of donor and public resources through disciplined programme management.
• Comfortable operating in high-ambiguity environments, with strong problem-solving orientation and resilience under pressure.
• Builds effective relationships across teams, functions, and geographies to deliver shared outcomes.
• Champions collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and institutional learning across the programme and the wider organization.

WORKING CONDITIONS

This is an X10 international (X10INT) role within GGGI’s salary scale. For the X10INT, the base salary starts at USD 93,480. In addition, GGGI provides 15% of base salary towards retirement plan/long-term savings, for eligible candidates, an expatriate allowance of 20% of base salary, 27 days of annual leave, and private health insurance that covers dental and vision. 

GGGI is committed to providing a work environment that is sufficiently flexible to accommodate diverse life-cycle challenges and assist Staff members to achieve a better balance between work and personal/family commitments, thus ensuring high performance, long-term productivity, and well-being of Staff members.